Did you know many universities now run pre-university summer schools? These taster days can last anywhere between seven days to two months, depending on the university hosting it and the course you’re thinking of studying. Basically, they’re like attending a much longer open day, but with less pressure to find out everything in just a few hours.

Summer schools give you a real insight into what student life with that particular university is like. From attending lectures to see if you’re really as interested in studying Ancient History as you think you are and exploring the area to see if you really suit the city life as much as you think you do, to seeing how homesick you get (if at all!) once mum and dad have dropped you off.

Six weeks with nothing to do? Sounds like you could get through A LOT of 3 star rated 90s movies and Netflix-made shows you only want to watch because everyone else seems to be and you’re feeling left out.

Spoiler alert: When you eventually watch those shows, you’ll just end up wondering what all the fuss was about.

You’re finally old enough to be saying goodbye to pocket money and the odd pound coin from Grandma and hello to your own income from a part-time job.

Not only will the extra cash mean less waiting around to afford something you don’t actually need, but more importantly it’ll also provide you with some vital work experience and new skills for your future CV.

Doesn’t sound that exciting now, but trust us, you won’t regret it when you’re looking for another 400 words to fill out your personal statement for university in a few months’ time.

Summer holidays are essentially just six weeks of weekend-like lie-ins. No more abandoning your comfy bed in the morning for an uncomfortable desk at school, it’s time to reconnect with your pillows and become a human sloth.

We guarantee that within a fortnight of the summer holidays you would have built a duvet fort…at least twice.

While six weeks may seem like a long time, before you know it the “Back to School” adverts will be plaguing your TV, your parents will be sending you to the hairdressers so you look “presentable” and you’ll be choosing between new pencil cases all over again.

So why not take the next few weeks to think about what you want to get out of Year 13, what university you might like to apply to and what course you want to study at a more in-depth and higher level.

Sounds like you’re being premature with this decision, but within a matter of weeks of the new school term starting in September you’ll be expected to be close to making this huge decision.

This is especially the case if you want to either study medicine or veterinary science courses or attend Oxford or Cambridge, as those application deadlines are in OCTOBER. Yes, you read those capital letters correctly. October. That’s a mere four weeks after you’re back in sixth form.

The problem with the summer holidays is you’re not always around your friends anymore, so you want to keep track of who’s doing what, where, and how much fun they’re pretending to be having.

So you check their Instagram, then Facebook, then Snapchat, then Twitter, then their YouTube channel, and then their Instagram again, and then repeat the whole cycle until you get bored or your phone dies, whichever comes first (usually the latter).

Got a dream career in mind? Then a good way to spend a week or two of your summer (or a few days if you really can’t bear the idea of not resting for the entire holiday) would be doing work experience in that particular area.

Ok, you won’t necessarily get to practice your dream role, especially if you want to be something that takes years of training like a doctor or lawyer (sorry no rational employer is going to let you loose in those jobs unaccompanied), but you’ll certainly be able to get a general idea of whether you want to make that dream a reality, or actually whether you may find it more of a nightmare.

Why do work that could benefit your future when you could watch such fluffiness having so much fun? By the end of the summer break, your YouTube recommendations will just be a mixture of dogs jumping into water, cats pushing stuff off tables and people falling over. Classic stuff.